United States v. Abraham Cruz

OPINION *

JORDAN, Circuit Judge.

A jury convicted Abraham Cruz of two counts of threatening to assault and kill a United States Department of Homeland Security Federal Agent in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 115. Cruz appeals his conviction, arguing that the intervening decisions in Elonis v. United States, — U.S.—, 135 S.Ct. 2001, 192 L.Ed.2d 1 (2015), and United States v. Elonis, 841 F.3d 589 (3d Cir. 2016) (“Elonis II”), which address the mens rea required to establish criminal liability for “threats” under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c), render the jury instructions used in his case erroneous. Cruz therefore…